On my way to Lincoln today on the A1 the radio picked up some comms between three or four stations tracking along the River Trent...
Turns out they were gliders running out of a small grass field that sits on a ridge where the A6075 meets the A57 (Notts i think)...
Nothing was heard on VHF apart from Waddo radar an various just the gliders talking to each other an the ground on two 466 channels (2 and both using sub tone 4.....

Anyone else heard this lot ? Seems unreal in this day an age they are using toy town radios for comms.....?
Can see the field on Google Earth but nothing named

when i first went for the RAE there were a couple of glider or plane people there..
they were told they had to do an RAE to be able to use radios airborne.
not sure how much has changed since then, it was 25 plus years ago..

but this story would go back to the driving instructors using 446...only takes one homebase illegal 25w PMR radio user to key on them and give them abuse and you have problems..

bigpimp347 wrote:when i first went for the RAE there were a couple of glider or plane people there..
they were told they had to do an RAE to be able to use radios airborne.
not sure how much has changed since then, it was 25 plus years ago..

but this story would go back to the driving instructors using 446...only takes one homebase illegal 25w PMR radio user to key on them and give them abuse and you have problems..

where was that again, not too far away from me

lol not the motorcycle debate,
I agree that keying up on them is bad but i also agree that they shouldn't rely on it for safe comms,
I kind of agree with both sides of the coin really.

Im going back over to Lincoln on sunday to pick up the bike i went to look at earlier.. Will stop right next to the gliders field an try an see what freqs they work on...
Surely being so close to Waddo an Scamps they must have some form of VHF airband comms?
Never been right keen on gliders...anyone that has to take a parachute aloft cant have much faith in what they are doing....

LeakyFeeder wrote:
Never been right keen on gliders...anyone that has to take a parachute aloft cant have much faith in what they are doing....

My gliding club has never deployed their parachutes since they opened 30 years ago. Based on your logic, sailors don't have faith in what they're doing too as they all carry life jackets and lifeboats

The use of PMR446 instead of proper airband radios by glider pilots wanting to save cost can be deadly if one pilot strays too near another airfields and doesn't radio in their location/heading/height on the gliding frequencies..that's when you'll see the parachutes deployed

LeakyFeeder wrote:
Never been right keen on gliders...anyone that has to take a parachute aloft cant have much faith in what they are doing....

My gliding club has never deployed their parachutes since they opened 30 years ago. Based on your logic, sailors don't have faith in what they're doing too as they all carry life jackets and lifeboats

The use of PMR446 instead of proper airband radios by glider pilots wanting to save cost can be deadly if one pilot strays too near another airfields and doesn't radio in their location/heading/height on the gliding frequencies..that's when you'll see the parachutes deployed

I imagine opening the co ck pit would be a challenge and un belting, by that time it may not be worth it.

LeakyFeeder wrote:
Never been right keen on gliders...anyone that has to take a parachute aloft cant have much faith in what they are doing....

My gliding club has never deployed their parachutes since they opened 30 years ago. Based on your logic, sailors don't have faith in what they're doing too as they all carry life jackets and lifeboats

The use of PMR446 instead of proper airband radios by glider pilots wanting to save cost can be deadly if one pilot strays too near another airfields and doesn't radio in their location/heading/height on the gliding frequencies..that's when you'll see the parachutes deployed

I imagine opening the co ck pit would be a challenge and un belting, by that time it may not be worth it.

Not really. there are releases to dislodge the canopy and the unbelting is a simple case of turning a dial.